


Not-So-Secret Santa

by supercatandfriends



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5539937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercatandfriends/pseuds/supercatandfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara has a little trouble finding the perfect Secret Santa present for her boss, Cat Grant. Luckily, fate (otherwise known as "Kara's own stupid mistake") manages to intervene when she accidentally gives Cat the wrong present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Secret Santa? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kara sighed and reached her hand into the stocking to pick a name anyway, “I don’t have time to go out and buy a present for a stranger.”

“Who said it was going to be a stranger?” Her peppy co-worker, Carolyn, said as she walked to the next desk.

“Who’d you get?” Winn scooted over to her desk in his chair to peek at her slip of paper.

“Sarah Shipman? I don’t know who this is,” Kara admitted, searching her memory for a face to go with the name.

“She works in photography. Switch with me,” Winn put on his biggest smile and looked like he was about to drop to his knees and beg. Kara didn’t trust this at all.

“Why? Who did you get?” She said suspiciously, squinting at him. Leaning close, he looked like he was about to spill a national secret.

“Cat Grant.”

“Oh… I didn’t know she participated in office Secret Santa… Yeah, yeah, I’ll switch with you. At least I know what she likes. I mean, I can’t afford what she likes, but at least it’s not a stranger-“

“Thank you, Thank you. I was panicking a little that she would find out it was me and then I’d get fired for a horrible present,” Winn threw his slip onto her desk and slipped Kara’s into his pocket. Kara felt her stomach sink. What if she got something Cat didn’t like and Cat found out? Why did it matter so much to her if Cat hated her present?

“I wonder who got my name…” Winn was already moving back to his own desk. Kara could hear Cat ending her phone call; she knew she’d be needed in a moment. It would be best to avoid this Secret Santa thing for at least right now and focus on her actual job.

 

 

 

“What do you get your boss for Secret Santa when you know too much about them?” Kara asked her sister. They were at National City Mall, finishing up some last minute Christmas shopping. Kara had already bought Alex’s present: a fantastic leather jacket that she’d seen Alex price checking about a month ago.

“You’re doing Secret Santa? Imagine if we did that at the DEO, it would be ridiculous,” Alex laughed, imagining the face of whoever ended up with Henshaw.

“I’m serious, Alex. I’m at a loss,” Kara whined, grabbing onto her sister’s arm as they rounded into Macy’s.

“I don’t know Cat Grant like you do, Kara. Buy her a book about treating your assistants with respect.”

“Ha ha. Absolutely. If I want to be fired on the spot.”

“She wouldn’t know it’s from you, Kara. That’s the ‘secret’ part. You don’t have to give her the perfect gift because there’s no pressure.”

“If you think that Cat Grant, the all-knowing Queen of All Media, wouldn’t know who her Secret Santa was, you’ve lost your mind,” Kara riffled through the clearance rack in the men’s section; Winn still needed a present.

“I’ve got it!” Alex snapped her fingers, causing several people to turn and look at them, “Just get her a paperweight. It’s nice enough to say you cared about finding her a present, casual enough to say that you didn’t spend too much time on it, and it might actually be useful in her life.”

“That’s…. not a bad idea, actually,” Kara said thoughtfully, putting her hands on her hips, “Now I’ve just got to figure out what to get Winn.”

“Call your cousin, get the nerd an autograph,” Alex smirked.

“Alex! Stop it!” Kara giggled, smacking her sister’s arm.

 

 

 

“Hey, Kara, hold the elevator!”

“James, hey, what’s up?” Kara said, throwing her arm out to catch the elevator. She’d just finished an incredibly long day of work and if anyone else had asked her to catch the elevator, she would have ignored them.

“I was wondering if you could do me a favor?” James smiled, hoping she would agree.

“Uh, yeah, maybe. What do you need?”

“I’ve tried twelve times to wrap Lucy’s Christmas present and it always comes out… weird? I can’t get it. Do you think you could teach me how? I saw you wrapping some of Miss Grant’s gifts earlier,” James asked, rubbing his arm.

“Absolutely! Why don’t you come over later? We can gift wrap together. I’ve still got to do Winn’s and Cat’s Secret Santa gift,” Kara offered, happy to have the company.

“Alright, cool. I’ll see you at… around seven? I’ll bring pizza?”

“Sounds good. See you then,” Kara backed out of the elevator, almost bumping into a woman trying to get on. She could feel James smiling behind her as she turned around and didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking back to see him laughing at her clumsiness.

 

 

 

James showed up at seven, on the dot. The man was punctual to a fault. He’d brought the pizza, too. They’d spent a good hour laughing at some lame Christmas special on television while getting slightly buzzed and eating pizza.

“Okay, okay. We’ve got to wrap some presents,” Kara giggled, slamming both of her hands down on the coffee table. She jumped up and pointed towards the bedroom, “I’ll go get some wrapping paper, be right back.”

She almost skipped into her bedroom to search her closet for wrapping paper. Spending time with James was always great; she wished she did it more often. They just clicked well. She came back into the living room with a tube of red wrapping paper and a bag full of holiday bows. James was still sitting on the couch, looking at a square jewelry box in his hand.

“Is that Lucy’s present?” Kara asked, sitting down in the chair opposite him. She sat her wrapping supplies on the table between them.

“Yeah,” he handed the blue velvet box to her, “It’s not much, really. I couldn’t think of what to get her.”

It was a necklace. And it was much. White gold, if Kara could be trusted to judge metal quality, which she usually could be. There were three sapphires the size of dimes. Dime sized sapphires were not “nothing much.”

“It’s beautiful, James. I’m sure she’ll love it,” Kara whispered, feeling reverent about a piece of jewelry. It was ridiculous, but she wished she had someone who cared about her as much as James cared about Lucy. She broke her own reverie by clearing her throat, “Alright, then. Time to teach you how to wrap it.”

She set it back on the table and pulled Winn’s gift out of the Macy’s bag. She’d ended up just buying him a new set of controllers for his Wii since she’d broken one of his last month when she’d lost _Smash Brothers_ and slammed it into the floor with all her considerable strength. She’d been a little drunk. A lot drunk.

James watched as she cut off a section of wrapping paper and almost expertly covered the gift in bright red Christmas paper. She’d slowed down the process a little to let James actually watch, but she was proud to say that she could wrap a present in less than thirty seconds. It was one of her special skills that she had acquired while working under Cat Grant.

“Think you can handle it?” Kara smirked, handing him a pair a scissors.

“I might need some guidance, but I’ll give it a shot,” James laughed, unrolling the wrapping paper and cutting of a section that Kara could already tell was too big for his present. She held her tongue, he’d figure it out on his own. Reaching back into the Macy’s bag, she pulled out the paperweight she’d bought Cat. She hadn’t noticed before, but the box it was in was roughly the same shape and size as Lucy’s necklace box. Maybe it would have been more effective to use the paperweight as the teaching tool rather than the much bigger box for the controllers.

Looking back over at what James was doing, she saw that he did actually seem to have a solid grasp on the wrapping situation. She rapidly wrapped Cat’s present and sat it on the coffee table beside Winn’s. James finished his as well, she could tell he was proud of it, and set it on the table. They went back to watching television and fighting over the last of the pizza.

 

 

“Well, I’d better get going. Work tomorrow,” James sighed at around eleven. Kara didn’t know where the time had gone; it seemed like only a couple minutes ago that he’d gotten here. Standing up, James threw his bag over his shoulder and turned to go.

“Oh hey, don’t forget your present,” Kara said, picking it up and handing it to him, “Lucy might get mad if you show up to dinner tomorrow without it.”

“Lucy’s already mad that I have to work on Christmas Eve,” James said, taking the present and walking to the door to let himself out, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kara.”

“See you tomorrow.”

 

 

She couldn’t believe she was cutting it so close. She’d arrived to work with less than a minute to spare before Cat showed up. Kara had to put the present on her desk before she got there or there was no hope of secretly getting it to her. Kara was just sitting the bright red box on the end of her boss’s desk when she heard the private elevator ding. Turning around, she saw Cat walking towards her office.

“Good morning, Miss Grant,” Kara smiled, clasping her hands behind her back.

“Kiera, do you have the print outs of the-“ She stopped when she passed Kara and saw the box on her desk. Picking it up, she flipped it over in her hands before turning back to her assistant and holding it up,” Who put this here?”

“I don’t know… Miss Grant,” Kara stammered, she’d hoped that she wouldn’t have to lie about not being Cat’s Secret Santa. She hated lying to Cat, it made her feel nauseous, “Secret Santa present?”

“Hm,” Cat hummed, picking at the wrapping paper, “Anyway, the print outs of the graphs that I emailed to you. I need them in full color, at least ten copies of each one.”

She pulled the wrapping paper off the present and threw it in the trash bin beside her desk. Sitting down in her office chair, Cat opened the little velvet box she’d received. Her eyes widened and she gripped the edge of her desk with her free hand.

“Do you… need anything else, Miss Grant?” Kara asked, not particularly liking the reaction that her gift was receiving from Cat.

“Yes, I need you to find out who this is from. It’s wildly inappropriate for an office Secret Santa present,” Cat said, snapping the box closed and throwing it in the top drawer of her desk.

“Wildly…? What?” Kara didn’t understand what was so wildly inappropriate about a thirty-dollar glass paperweight with Cat’s name on it.

“Just do as I say, Kiera,” Cat signed, putting on her glasses and dismissing her assistant with a wave of her hand.

 

 

 

“I don’t understand what happened. She opened it and seemed completely shocked,” Kara paced the room while Winn and James watched her anguish.

“Maybe she didn’t like it?” Winn suggested.

“There wasn’t anything to not like! It was a stupid paperweight! Totally casual and non-threatening!” Kara stopped her pacing to throw dramatic arm gestures at Winn.

“Maybe you’re reading too far into this, Kara,” James was leaning casually up against the wall, trying his best not to be too obvious about his disinterest in the issue. It was just a Secret Santa present. It’s not like the world was ending. Oh wait- it might be. They had put all Supergirl activities on hold to discuss Kara’s problem with Cat, “We really should focus on figuring out if there’s anything Supergirl can do today.”

“It’s Christmas, James. Supergirl is taking the day off,” Kara sighed, flopping down into the rolling chair beside Winn.

“Alright, if that’s what’s happening, then I’m gonna take off. I’m done with work. I want to go change before I meet Lucy for dinner,” James pushed himself off the wall and waved as he left the room.

“Don’t worry too much about it, Kara. I’m sure she won’t even remember it on Monday,” Winn said, also getting up to leave for the day. Kara hoped he was right, she didn’t need the extra stress in her life.

 

 

 

Monday came all too soon. Christmas had been good; Kara had spent it with her family. Alex and her mother had both loved their gifts. She was nervous, still, that Cat hadn’t forgotten whatever it was she had been so upset about with her Secret Santa present.

Kara just sat down at her desk when she saw James rushing towards her, looking embarrassed and worried.

“Kara, I don’t think Cat’s going to drop the issue of her present,” James whispered when he was close enough to lean over her desk.

“What? Why?”

“Because,” James reached his hand into his pocket, pulled it back out, and dropped something onto her desk. A glass paperweight. With Cat’s name on it, “Because I gave _this_ to Lucy on Christmas.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god, James, I’m so sorry,” Kara jumped up and her hands immediately snapped to cover her mouth, “Lucy must have been so disappointed!”

“It’s alright, I explained and got her a different necklace. I just thought you’d want to know about this.”

“Why would I want- shit. Shit. Oh god. Cat’s present!” Kara whispered, panic taking over as she dropped back into her chair like a two ton weight had just fallen onto her shoulders, “I gave _Cat Grant_ , my boss, a crazy expensive, crazy nice necklace as a Secret Santa present. Oh god. What if she finds out? What if-“

“Kara! Kara, you need to calm down,” James gripped both of her shoulders and knelt down in front of her chair, “There’s no way she’ll know it’s from you. I just thought you’d want to know why she reacted the way she did. It’s going to be fine.”

“Kiera! Come here!” Kara’s eyes widened as she turned to look at her boss through the glass wall separating her office. She turned back to James and nodded, processing what she’d done, before standing up to go face her boss. James stood up from his kneeling position and gently pushed her towards Cat’s office as he walked away.

 

 

 

“Kiera, what do you know about the security in this building?” Cat didn’t even look up from the papers she was shuffling through as she spoke.

“That it’s… really good?” Kara was at a loss for what Cat was trying to get her to say.

“Mhm. They’re so good that they can do both their job and your job,” Cat said, getting up to lean against the side of her desk closest to Kara.

“I don’t understand-“

“I asked you to figure out who gave me that gift, Kiera. You failed to do so. I called security,” Cat pointedly stared at Kara, waiting for it to click in the girl’s head. It didn’t take long.

“Oh no. No, no, no, no. Miss Grant, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I meant to get you a paperweight-“ Kara was flustered, too say the least, talking at a pace that was almost too much for anyone to actually comprehend.

“Do you know the last time someone got me a gift that I actually liked?” Cat interrupted her assistant’s rambling. Kara snapped her eyes up from the floor, “I was a bit taken aback that someone here would be able to accomplish it, but of course it would be you. You never seem to fail me, Kara.”

“You… you liked it?” Kara felt like she was tiptoeing on broken glass, not sure where she could put her foot without slicing it open.

“It was lovely.”

“Wait- did you just call me ‘Kara’?”

“That is your name, isn’t it?” Cat sighed, wondering if the girl knew how to just take a compliment without looking like she was going to faint. She moved away from her desk to stand closer to Kara in case she did actually pass out.

“Yeah, but usually… You know what, never mind. I’m… glad you liked it, Miss Grant,” Kara smiled, still wringing her hands in front of her.

“Stop that,” Cat snapped lightly, reaching out to grab her assistant’s hands and pull them apart. The movement made _her_ feel anxious. Kara immediately jerked her hands away from her boss, then immediately regretted it. What the hell was wrong with her, acting like a kid with a crush?

Cat stepped back and studied her assistant. She was always a little flustered, but this was ridiculous, even for her. Kara had ducked her head to try to hide her furiously blushing face. Smirking, Cat thought she had a pretty good idea of why. She could definitely enjoy this development. If nothing else, she could have some fun with it for a couple days.

Kara looked up just in time to see the smirk before it vanished completely as Cat turned to walk back to her chair. That was the look of someone who knew they had the upper hand in a situation. That was the look that was going to haunt Kara for days. Cat Grant, her boss, the self-titled Queen of All Media, knew that her assistant had at least a small crush on her. And she planned to do everything in her power to make it worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to try writing for Supercat, they're too cute for their own good. Let me know what you think, I'm a sucker for comments. Thanks for reading, hope you like it so far.


	2. Chapter 2

“Kiera, I need you to put that mouth of yours to good use.”

“Excuse me?” Kara snapped her head up from the paperwork in her hands, completely caught off guard and incredibly confused. She was standing in Cat Grant’s office. Unless she had somehow fallen asleep at her desk and this was some strange dream. No, she could clearly read the files in her hand and this was clearly real life.

“Some idiot purchased those stupid envelopes that you have to lick to seal instead of the self-adhesive ones,” Cat held up a stack of about thirty unsealed envelopes, “I need you to seal them and get them to the mailroom.”

“Right. Yes. Will do,” Kara reached out and almost snatched the envelopes from her boss’s hand before turning on her heels and fleeing the room.

Cat watched her leave with a growing sense of amusement. It was almost too easy to turn her assistant into a terrified little mouse, afraid of the big, bad cat ready to pounce. She mentally laughed at her own stupid pun before getting back to her actual job of running a company.

 

 

 

“It’s only getting worse, Winn,” Kara groaned, burying her face into her couch pillow, “I’m going to have to quit. Do you think Starbucks is hiring? I could be a barista.”

“You’re blowing this out of proportion, I think,” Winn leaned back in his chair to get a better view of his best friend’s breakdown, “Cat Grant isn’t really the type of person to screw with her assistant.”

“Yesterday she asked me if I could come over to her apartment and tell her if I thought her bed sheets were satin or silk, because she couldn’t remember which she had bought and she needed to buy new ones,” Kara looked up from the pillow long enough to throw a glare at her friend, daring him to argue with the presented evidence that, yes, her boss was screwing with her.

“Okay, but, I mean, she has you do weird stuff all the time. Last year she made you go to thirteen different Targets to find a copy of the magazine she’d been in that didn’t have any wrinkles, tears, or creases in it,” he reached forward to snatch the pillow away from Kara before she could hide in it again.

“There was a purpose to that. There was a nice picture of her and Carter in it and she wanted to save it. It was sentimental,” Kara whined, “This is not the same. This is not the same weird stuff she has been making me do for ages, Winn. I can handle the weird. I cannot handle this.”

“Why not? Just ignore it. You’re Supergirl, for Pete’s sake. You take on evil aliens on a semi-regular basis. I think you can handle Cat Grant being a little… off,” Winn laughed, tossing the pillow back at her head, “Besides, you can’t quit. If you quit, I become the cutest person in the office. And I cannot handle that responsibility, Kara.”

 

 

 

Winn had made a solid point: Cat Grant was not the type of woman who spent any extended amount of time screwing with the people who worked for her. Normally, she would think of herself as being above that sort of tomfoolery. But with Kara. With Kara she couldn’t help herself. But tonight she would have to be more careful; she couldn’t have herself accidentally propositioning Supergirl during a charity function. It would be uncouth, completely unacceptable.

She was also a little unsure of how she was going to make it through the entire party without her assistant trailing three feet behind her. She might as well make use of her while she was still around for the day.

“Which do you think?” Cat asked, turning away from the mirror she’d been looking in and holding up two different necklaces for her assistant’s opinion. Kara, for her part, was sitting on the couch with her laptop, going over last minute party details.

“Um- the one on the left, it matches the dress better,” Kara mumbled, never really looking up from her computer screen. That would never do. She dropped both of the necklaces back on the counter. Grabbing a handful of M&Ms, she went to sit on the couch directly opposite Kara. She leaned back, crossed her legs, and started popping candy into her mouth. Just sitting and staring at her assistant while she worked.

Kara could feel the red creeping up her neck, but remained as focused as she could on the guest list in front of her. Which should not have required nearly as much concentration as she was putting into it. Suddenly, after what felt like an hour, Cat stood up and stopped staring at her.

“Well, I’ve got to go get dressed. My reputation hangs on you being on your best behavior tonight, _Supergirl,”_ Cat was packing up her bag, trying to pretend like she wasn’t watching Kara’s reaction. The girl was staring at her, opening and closing her mouth as if she couldn’t figure out how to respond.

 

 

 

 

“It’s strange going to one of Cat’s parties as Supergirl instead of… you know, going as myself. Except Supergirl is myself? It’s all very confusing.”

“No, what’s confusing is the difference between black tie formal and regular formal,” Winn said, stepping out of his bedroom wearing a suit and tie, “Is this formal enough?”

“You look fine, Winn,” Kara said, reclining on his couch in her Supergirl suit, waiting for it to be close enough to seven so that she could fly to the party.

Kara briefly wished she could dress up for the party, rather than having to wear the suit. At least no one ever bothered her at the parties she went to as Kara Danvers. Tonight would be a different matter, she was sure of it. Pictures, small talk, more pictures, invasive questions, people touching her without her permission, even more pictures.

“What’s the matter? Not looking forward to a public appearance, Supergirl?” Winn joked, trying to shove his dress shirt into his pants a little tighter. He knew her too well. Well, he knew she was scowling on his couch before a public appearance as Supergirl, so he did have quiet a good bit of evidence to work with.

“No, I’m not. It’s overwhelming.”

“Look on the bright side, Kara,” he said, smirking and raising his eyebrows, “Cat Grant will be all over you tonight.”

“Shut up, Winn,” Kara whined, turning over to lie on her stomach and hide her face in the couch cushions.

“Oh come on, like you really mind,” Winn laughed, “You blush redder than a lobster whenever anyone mentions her. Somehow it gets even worse when she’s in the room. You like her attention, you can’t lie to me.”

“I can try,” Kara asserted, lifting her head up off the couch.

 

 

 

 Kara had been absolutely right; she wasn’t given an inch of breathing space all night. And Cat seemed to be avoiding her, which she didn’t mind at all. Or at least, that’s what she kept telling herself. And Winn, who needed to stop hanging out with Supergirl before someone got suspicious.

It was near the end of the night before she finally got a chance to escape to a bathroom on a different floor for a breather. Leaning most of her weight against the counter, she turned on the water to wash her hands.

“You won’t be leaving the party that easy, Kara.” Kara was about _this_ close to a heart attack before turning around and seeing Cat Grant slipping into the bathroom. Her moment of relief at not being found out by a stranger was quickly overtaken by the panic associated with being alone with Cat.

“Miss Grant! You scared me,” Kara slowly brought her hands down from where they had reached up to cover her heart in her original moment of panic. Cat gave a snort of disbelief as she reached behind her to lock the door, “I wasn’t leaving… I just needed a minute.”

“I suppose it can all be a bit much. Everyone just wants to meet you. You are a hero, after all,” Cat said, leaning back against the door, effectively trapping Kara in the bathroom with her. She could unlock the door, no problem. She could not physically force her boss to move away from it.

“Yeah… so did you need something or...?” Kara nervously tucked her hair behind her ears, pulling at it as she brought her hand back down.

“No, I just hadn’t got my chance this evening to speak with National City’s newest celebrity. Thought I never would,” Cat waited until Kara was looking at her instead of the floor and then ran her fingers over the necklace she was wearing.

“You’re wearing the necklace I gave you,” The words were already out of her mouth before she could think them through. Probably a bad play, Danvers.

“I am,” Cat grinned and let her hand rest just below her neck, “Which you would have noticed sooner if you hadn’t been avoiding me all night.”

“I have not been _avoiding you_ all night! If anything, you’ve been _avoiding me_ ,” Kara argued, stepping forward and putting her hands on her hips. Paired with the outfit, it had a very righteous effect. Cat smirked and raised an eyebrow, causing Kara to drop one of her hands off her hips and take half a step back.

“What reason do you think I have for avoiding you, _Supergirl_? I created your entire image. Being seen around you would only add to the media frenzy,” Cat stalked forward as she was saying this. It did seem a bit odd to Kara now that Cat hadn’t been practically joined at her hip this evening… maybe she had been subconsciously avoiding her.

“Wait-no. Because I looked for you and you weren’t- I mean, I didn’t see you all night. I never moved from that one spot,” Kara hoped the other woman didn’t catch her slip up. But the other woman was Cat Grant. Cat Grant didn’t miss anything.

“You were looking for me?”

“I- I have to go. Winn is probably waiting for me,” Kara stammered, brushing past Cat in her rush to get out of the bathroom in one piece. She was going to have to start scripting out her conversations with her boss if she didn’t want to end up losing her mind.

 

           

 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Alex,” Kara stuffed another pizza bagel in her mouth, “It’s like I can’t form actual sentences around her anymore.”

“That sounds like it might be a problem since you’re her assistant,” Alex said between bites. She put on a serious face and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the dining table, “Have you considered that you might have a tiny crush on her?”

“What is with you people? Winn said the same freaking thing,” Kara pushed the empty plate into the middle of the table. They were sitting in Kara’s kitchen about an hour after Kara got home from the party, “She’s my _boss_ , Alex. And she’s got a son my age. She’s so controlling and bossy. And she’s… Well there are a lot of reasons not to have a _crush_ on her. God, what is this? Grade school?”

“That’s incredibly defensive for someone who does not have a crush on Cat Grant,” Alex knew her sister. She knew about every single person that her sister had ever had a crush on. Having a crush on her boss would make sense, “Look, would it really be such a bad thing if you did? Besides, it will be a lot easier to deal with it once you actually admit it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, Kara.”

“I admire and respect Cat Grant, that’s all,” Kara clarified. Her phone buzzed on the table.

“Well the admired and respected Cat Grant just texted you,” Alex snatched her phone off the table before Kara could stop her. She tried to unlock it, but Kara had changed her password, “When did you change your password? It’s been ‘karazorel’ for as long as I can remember.”

“Like a week ago… Winn started being nosey and I… Just give it to me,” she pleaded, reaching both her hands across the table.

“No! What’s your password?” Alex held the phone close to her chest in feigned betrayal.

“Alexxxx...”

“Password.”

“Ugh… it’s ‘CatGrant’. Capital ‘C’, Capital ‘G’,” Kara mumbled, pulling her hands back and crossing her arms across her chest.

“Jesus Christ, Kara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a supercat tumblr yesterday because I've given up all pretense of not being obsessed with them. You guys should follow me.  
> supercatandfriends.tumblr.com
> 
> As always, let me know what you think and thank you all for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

“How was the party?” Carter was sitting on the couch, Gameboy in hand, when he heard his mom come in the door.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? It’s midnight,” Cat reprimanded, slipping off her coat and hanging it on the coatrack before going to sit on the couch beside him. She took off her heels and pulled her legs up underneath her, angling herself to face Cater, “Still trying to beat the Elite Four?”

“It would be easier if I hadn’t decided to focus on leveling up three different grass types earlier. My team is all unbalanced,” Carter scowled at his game before saving and switching it off, “The party?”

“Oh, it was fine. Just a party,” Cat said, smiling.

“Supergirl was there, right?” He asked excitedly.

“Yes… She was there,” Cat was hesitant to touch on the topic, she hadn’t really spent much time with Supergirl and didn’t have much to say about her, but she knew Carter wanted details, “It was a pretty crowded event though, so I only spoke with her for a short time.”

“Oh. Who else was there?” Carter sank back into the couch, excitement fading but still interested in hearing about his mother’s night.

“No one too exciting, don’t worry,” She laughed, digging her phone out of her purse. Twenty-seven new emails, twelve new text messages, three missed phone calls. Running her hands through her hair, she prepared herself to deal with all of them. Carter had gone back to his game.

After answering a few emails and ignoring another phone call from the head of marketing, she realized she hadn’t asked Kara to recap all the drama that she hadn’t paid attention to at the party. She wondered if the girl would even know this time, since she had actually been attending the party as a guest rather than an employee. There was no harm in texting her and asking. She opened up her messages, but something else caught her eye before she could type anything. She’d saved Kara’s number as “Kara (The Assistant) Danvers.” Did she really need a reminder of who Kara was?

Carter looked over and saw his mother staring at her phone. A quick peek told him she was staring at Kara’s texts.

“Are you actually planning on texting Kara, Mom? Or were you just reminiscing about…” Quick peek at her last text from Kara, “yesterday when she asked you if you wanted her to pick up your lunch?”

“Nosey today, are we?” Cat said, widening her eyes and turning her phone over on her lap.

“I like Kara. You should be nicer to her,” Carter said, eyes back on his Gameboy, “She’s not gonna figure out you’re in love with her just because you stop yelling at her every ten minutes.”

“What the hell are you talking about? In love with her?” Cat looked incredulously at her son, “I have never said anything about-“

“Didn’t have to. You’re an open book, Mom. Night,” he jumped up from the couch, not even bothering a look back at her shocked face as he left to go to bed.

In love? With Kara Danvers? Cat hadn’t really thought about it. “In love” didn’t quite fit her feelings on the matter. Sure, she cared about her and preferred having her around to not having her around. She was fond of her, that’s all. And there was no question that she was attracted to her, but that had always been a given. The actual question was why she had yet to actually respond to the news that Kara seemed to feel the same way.

Looking back down at the phone in her lap, she remembered her original goal in pulling up Kara’s messages. Figuring out if her assistant knew anything about the party that she didn’t know about. She would figure out how to actually deal with her feelings for her assistant later. That is, if she even had any feelings for her.

 

 

 

 

Kara had felt pretty bad about neglecting her job at the party; she hadn’t paid enough attention to any of the guests to have any new information to give her boss. So by the time Monday morning rolled around, Kara had called several people and checked multiple blogs to compile a fairly complete list of all the drama that had unfolded that night. She felt fairly accomplished about the whole thing; it had taken most of the weekend. In fact, she’d been up so late the night before that she had overslept this morning. There was a chance she had forgotten to brush her teeth.

She got to her desk, sat Cat’s latte down, and waited. She did not expect Cat Grant to be fifteen minutes late. By the time she finally stepped off her elevator, Kara had worked herself into a pretty serious worry over what could have kept her.

“Miss Grant,” jumping out of her seat and following her boss into her office, forgetting both the cold latte and the party information, “Is everything alright?”

“Of course everything is alright,” Cat said, pushing her sunglasses on top of her head and scanning the monitors behind her desk, “Small delay this morning. The traffic was hell.”

Turning around, she took in her assistant’s disheveled appearance. Her cardigan clashed with her dress. Her hair was haphazardly pulled into a bun that seemed to defy gravity. Kara’s entire face screamed that she hadn’t slept. That, and the obvious worry written all over it, made Cat pause.

“Are _you_ alright, Kiera?” Cat asked, hesitantly stepping towards her, “You look like hell.”

“Yeah… no… I mean, I’m fine,” Kara said, “I just didn’t get a lot of sleep because I was working-“

“You’re no good to me if you work yourself to death,” Cat had a sudden, fantastic idea that should would be congratulating herself on for weeks to come, “This week is the last of Carter’s vacation, you know.”

“Yes, Miss Grant, I know. I’ve been rescheduling all your usual evening meetings for this week,” Kara reminded her, unsure about the sudden subject change.

“Carter hasn’t stopped talking about how ‘amazing’ you are since he met you a few weeks ago. He asked if you would be interested in coming over for dinner some time this week. We can both take tomorrow night off, since you worked so hard this weekend. If that’s acceptable to you?” Kara was entirely thrown off guard. This was unexplored territory in her relationship with her boss. What could she do but hastily agree and then rush out to get Cat a new latte?

 

 

 

Later that evening, after taking care of a fire at the hospital, Kara was panicking in the “secret base” with Winn and James. Who were both surprisingly cavalier about the situation, Kara thought.

“If you didn’t want to go, then why did you agree to it?” James asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“It’s not that I don’t _want_ to go… I do. I think. I’m just hoping for a last minute disaster that requires me to be anywhere but Cat’s apartment,” Kara explained. If one could call that an explanation.

“Makes sense. I can see you’ve got a complete grasp on your feelings for Miss Grant,” Winn said skeptically, “Do you want me to set something else on fire? Is the hospital not enough for one week?”

“You’re being ridiculous about this, Kara. Didn’t she say that Carter wanted to see you? I think you might be projecting,” James was trying to play the devil’s advocate; there was no reason for Kara to destroy the semblance of a civil relationship she had with her boss because of a misunderstanding. But even James had to admit that it all was a little out of the ordinary.

“Alright. Yeah. I’m being ridiculous,” Kara tried to even out her breathing, “Carter wants me to be there. And he’s a great kid. It’s going to be fine.”

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you actually invited her to dinner.”

“You’re the one who said that I should be nicer to her, if I remember correctly,” Cat looked at herself in her bedroom mirror, considering changing outfits for the third time that morning. Carter had planted himself on her bed as soon as she had woken up.

“I figured you’d start smaller. You know, maybe try not blaming her for your missed appointments or something like that.”

“I thought I taught you better than that,” Cat grinned at him in the mirror, “Go big or go home.”

“I also can’t believe you used me as an excuse. That’s low, even for you, Mom,” Carter rolled off the bed, pretending to fall onto the floor.

“Go get dressed, your father will be here to pick you up soon,” Cat said, ushering him out of the room, “Tell him that if he doesn’t get you back before six-“

“Yeah, I know. I’m going,” Carter said, “How mad would you be if I didn’t make it back?”

“Murderous, Carter. So don’t get any ideas.”

 

 

Turns out, Winn didn’t need to set anything on fire to get Kara out of dinner at Cat’s. A few bank robbers on the other side of the city took care of that just fine. Cat sat on her bed, staring at the apology text on her phone. She hadn’t felt this disappointed since last year when she’d found out that Lois Lane had gotten three more seats at the White House Correspondents Dinner than she had.

“Mom?” Carter. She’d almost forgotten that he was coming home. He was going to be disappointed, too. But there wasn’t a way for her to really explain why Kara wasn’t coming without making her assistant sound flaky.

“Come on, it’s just dinner. Pull yourself together,” Cat whispered to herself, standing up to go find Carter.

“Mom? Oh, hey. You haven’t made dinner yet?” Carter said, almost running into his mom on her way out of the bedroom.

“Actually, I don’t think I’m up for cooking tonight, Carter,” Cat wrapped her arm around his shoulders and led him back into the living room, “Why don’t you order Chinese or something?”

“Are you alright?” Carter asked, slinking out from underneath his mom’s arm to get a better look at her face. There was no way that his mom would allow him to order takeout on a night when they were expecting guests, at least not under any normal circumstance.

“I’m fine. Kara had to… reschedule. Something came up. A family emergency,” Cat actually brushed him off, physically put her hand on his shoulder and sweep past him into the living room. Carter followed her to the couch and sat down beside her, letting her pull his head down onto her shoulder.

“Another time, then,” Carter said, leaning forward and reaching for the television remote before falling back onto her. He started flipping through the channels, looking for something halfway decent to watch, “Don’t worry about it, Kara wouldn’t lie.”

"I didn’t think she was lying,” Cat said, hardly paying attention to the television. She wasn’t worried about Kara lying to her, or about Kara not wanting to come to dinner. She was just… upset at herself for getting her hopes up so quickly. Running her fingers through Carter’s hair, she pulled out her cell phone, “So do you want Chinese or pizza?”

 

 

Carter had gone to bed fairly early, apparently he’d spent the day riding bikes with his father in the park and was exhausted. Cat decided to follow suit less than an hour later. If she stayed up any longer, she was sure alcohol would make an appearance and she didn’t exactly trust herself tonight. She’d just gotten into bed when she heard a knock at her balcony door. Confused, she turned over and saw Kara, well Supergirl, standing on the balcony. Getting up and grabbing a coat, she walked out onto the balcony. Kara was turned away from her, staring out at the city.

“You’re late,” Cat closed the door behind her, leaning up against the glass.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Kara said, turning around and gesturing at her outfit, “I was needed elsewhere. Won’t happen again.”

“Yes it will,” Cat sighed, “You’re _Supergirl_ , you’ll always have somewhere else to be.”

“Not always,” Cat could see the sincerity written on the other woman’s face, almost pleading with her not to have this conversation, “I’ll drop everything next time, the city can burn and I’ll still show up for dinner.”

“You’ll ruin my brand,” Cat teased, smirking. Deciding that she didn’t need to have the “busy superhero” conversation right now. Kara’s face lightened, the corners of her mouth upturning slightly. Cat moved to step into her assistant’s personal space, reaching out to take her hand, “I do have a fairly solid understanding of what I’m signing up for.”

“Signing up for?” Kara wasn’t even trying to hide the smile overtaking her face anymore, letting Cat drag her slightly closer. She was momentarily pleased that she was wearing the Supergirl suit; it made her feel bolder.

“I’m not going to explain myself, if that’s what you’re fishing for.”

“Then I’ll just have to make some assumptions,” Kara reached up to cup Cat’s cheek with her free hand, leaning in a bit closer. She stopped when she heard a knock on Cat’s bedroom door and pulled back.

“Mom? I heard something on the balcony,” Carter said through the door, “Mom? Are you awake?”

“Just a minute,” Cat called, stepping back from Kara and giving her an apologetic look. Kara had her head turned away from her, rubbing her left elbow awkwardly. It was still a bit strange to see Kara’s personality shining through the Supergirl persona.

“I should go before Carter sees me,” Kara whispered, pointing off towards the city and smiling like an idiot even though they’d been interrupted, “Besides, just means you’ll have to make it up to me.”

“Dinner tomorrow night, no Carter. Don’t you dare cancel,” Cat stepped forward again and quickly pecked her on the lips, rushing back inside as soon as the pulled away. She didn’t need Kara to see the blush she knew was spreading across her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided that I love writing Carter and Cat scenes. So I want to apologize for the abundance of them.   
> Anyway- here's the obligatory promotion for my tumblr, supercatandfriends.tumblr.com  
> And here's the part where I wonder why anyone bothered to read this and I thank all of you for doing so :)


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